


Popcorn and Zombies

by puffythepig



Series: My Muppets Fics [7]
Category: The Muppets (2011), The Muppets (TV 2015), The Muppets - All Media Types
Genre: Alcohol, Awkward Conversations, Awkwardness, Charades, Comedy, Fluff, Friend group, Game Night, M/M, Madonna - Freeform, Monopoly (Board Game), Mutual Pining, Oblivious, Office, Office Romance, Pining, Romantic Comedy, hopeless romantic scooter, like a virgin, sex mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-23
Updated: 2020-07-23
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:28:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25464730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/puffythepig/pseuds/puffythepig
Summary: It took Scooter a minute to even register that Kermit was indeed asking him to give Walter a quick tour of the studio and within minutes the frog left them alone, and Walter let out a sharp breath, catching the gopher’s attention.“Wow, Kermit is just so amazing! I still can’t believe that I’m actually here, and,” He looked over with wide eyes at Scooter, “and with you and all the other Muppets, too!”Shaking his head and letting out some of the nerves bundled in his stomach, Scooter gave the other a smile. “Yeah, Kermit is pretty amazing. He’s always been like a father to me.”Without any hesitation, Walter blurted out his own thoughts. “I always had a crush on him.”Right away the two looked at each other in silence for about a minute before clearing their throats. “So, where are you showing me first?”
Relationships: Camilla the Chicken/Gonzo the Great, Denise/Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear/Kermit the Frog, Pepe the King Prawn/Rizzo the Rat, Pepe/Rizzo, Scooter/Walter
Series: My Muppets Fics [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1837657
Comments: 5
Kudos: 24





	Popcorn and Zombies

** Popcorn **

Scooter wasn’t sure why he always ended up being the one to give tours to new workers at the studio, but this time he wasn’t sure he minded. When Walter came around the corner of the Up Late with Miss Piggy doors the first time with Kermit following and telling the gopher that he was to give Walter a tour, Scooter found himself heating up.

Usually there was a small bit of anxiety in the gopher’s gut, but today it was more like a ball of yarn, and he couldn’t figure out why. It was probably something in the fast food breakfast that he had that morning – Mom always said it was a bad way to start the day.

It took Scooter a minute to even register that Kermit was indeed asking him to give Walter a quick tour of the studio and within minutes the frog left them alone, and Walter let out a sharp breath, catching the gopher’s attention.

“Wow, Kermit is just so amazing! I still can’t believe that I’m actually here, and,” He looked over with wide eyes at Scooter, “and with you and all the other Muppets, too!”

Shaking his head and letting out some of the nerves bundled in his stomach, Scooter gave the other a smile. “Yeah, Kermit is pretty amazing. He’s always been like a father to me.”

Without any hesitation, Walter blurted out his own thoughts. “I always had a crush on him.”

Right away the two looked at each other in silence for about a minute before clearing their throats. “So, where are you showing me first?”

With a deep huff, Scooter opened the front doors of the building and led Walter inside. After showing him where the staff room, kitchen, and offices were, with only a few mishaps caused by the Swedish Chef flinging some sort of goopy dip at them and yelling at them—Scooter assumed he was telling them to try it—the tour came to a stop when Yolanda bumped right into the orange muppet.

“Scooter! There ya are, be a dear and pick up these coffee orders for everyone, won’t ya?” She shoved a small clipboard in his hands and booked it out of the room before he could force out an objection. “Well, I guess I’ll show ya what us smaller guys usually do around here and take you with me to pick up the coffee for the day.”

Walter shook his head as the two started to walk to the parking lot. “Doesn’t it make more sense to just have everyone use the coffee machine in the staff room?”

Shrugging, Scooter started scanning over the list. “We would if it still worked. Bunsen used I for an experiment a while ago and messed it up. Now it’s just used as a hot tub by Rizzo, Yolanda, and Pepé when they’re on break sometimes. Plus, Miss Piggy won’t drink non-Starbucks coffee.”

“Still,” Walter glanced over at the extensive list, “You think they would have a delivery system set up. Do you usually do this?”

Scooter shrugged again. “I am the delivery system today. And I do it about once or twice a week, as does Yolanda or Sweetums. And I imagine that after today you’ll be seen as an option too.”

Humming, Walter climbed into the golf cart with Scooter, squeezing in beside him and holding tightly to the sides of it as they made their way through the backroads near the studio until they pulled up into the Starbucks parking lot. Upon opening the door of the coffee shop, the long line that stopped them from being able to even see the register sent them sighing.

“Well, one good thing about fetching coffee for everyone is you get to eat lunch out. How about we go find somewhere to eat before picking up the coffee?”

Right away, Walter clutched his hands together in agreeance. “Yeah, I think my legs will fall off if I wait in that line.”

Snorting, Scooter led the other back to the gold cart as they sat and discussed where to stop and eat at for lunch. Eventually the two decided to stop at the nearest Wendy’s, climbing into a booth together with their burgers, fries, and milkshakes in front of them.

Trying his best to focus on his food and not dwell on what they had both said impulsively about Kermit earlier in the day, Scooter glanced up when Walter spoke up, twirling his straw around in his milkshake. “So, what were your hobbies growing up?”

Right away, Scooter read the awkward tone and knew this was just Walter trying to be socially interesting, as he often did. “Not much, I guess. I didn’t have a ton of friends growing up. I mostly just spent my time at home coloring or watching TV. My sister had always been the more social one.”

Perking up a bit, Walter took a large sip of his drink. “I get that! My brother Gary always was able to make friends easier than I was, so I spent a lot of time home alone watching movies. He always tried to include me, but I’ve always been really awkward.” The yellowish muppet laughed lightly. “Like this one time, when Gary first brought Mary home to introduce her to our parents and me, we were having lasagna. I was so shocked that my brother was growing up and had a girlfriend that I dropped the entire plan of lasagna on the floor, and my dad ended up ordering pizza instead! Was the worst first impression I’ve ever made.”

“Yeah, well back when I first met the Electric Mayhem, I had a small crush on Zoot and I nearly puked on him the first time he shook my hand!” Scooter replied, causing Walter to let out a series of guffaws.

“When I first met Kermit, I fainted!”

Scooter shook his head in laughter and paused his thoughts for a minute to admire the muppet sitting across from him, unable to ignore the thought that crawled through the back of his mind like a worm.

Uh oh. Walter was cute.

Not that it was an issue on its own, but the idea that he maybe was forming a small crush on a guy who had mentioned liking guys, who he also confessed to liking guys to by mentioning his former crush on Zoot, thus making Walter somewhat attainable, sent a sting to the pit of his stomach. Swallowing hard and going back to exchanging memories and eating, the two soon finished their meal and hurried back to the Starbucks, that was far less busy now that rush hour was over.

After picking up the requested drinks and racing back to the Muppet Studio to pass them out, it was finally time for Walter to sit down at his desk and begin some of his paperwork, which Scooter was far from required for. As Walter walked away from Scooter, he couldn’t help but release a cheesy, lovelorn sigh, and nearly screamed when Pepé popped up at his side. “What do you want?”

The prawn lifted his hands up to defend himself. “Was just seeing why you were staring at Walter like that, okay?”

Huffing, Scooter looked down at the list of coffees and started to focus his eyes on the paper as he crumbled it. “It’s none of your business.”

“I know, I know. Was just wondering when the wedding is.”

Gasping loudly, Scooter swatted at the crustacean’s arm. In a hushed tone, he pulled the other to the side. “Don’t say that, Pepé! Even if I do have feelings for Walter, I could get in trouble for dating a co-worker!”

The king prawn stared blankly for a minute before laughing.

“What? Stop laughing!”

“Sorry, was just thinking of the irony of that when both of our bosses are ex’s, and Kermit and Fozzie were holding hands in the break room yesterday.”

“Still!”

Pepé shrugged. “Anyways, make sure you tell him about this week’s game night, lover boy.” The prawn laughed as he walked away, leaving the orange muppet shaking his head.

Two days later, Walter knocked on Scooter’s office cubicle with a huge smile that made Scooter nearly choke. “Hey, you wanna go out to lunch again? It’s on me.”

“I’d be happy too, but have you gotten a chance to sit and talk with anyone else yet?”

Shrugging, Walter glanced away. “A little, but I think I’ll wait until the company game night to bond with everyone. But, you’re probably the most like me, and I was thinking we could be good friends.”

After shaking the shock away, Scooter stood up abruptly, trying not to break out in hives or too wide of a smile. “Of course! That would be nice.” He tried his best to hide the heart that threatened to jump out of his chest and onto his sleeve. Alright, maybe Walter was _really_ cute, and sweet, too.

As the two sat down, this time in a small family-owned café near the studio, Scooter struggled to stop himself from staring at Walter every minute he wasn’t looking. It was odd. Even before with his crushes, they weren’t so intense that they made his felt hands literally sweat, which he didn’t think was possible, but here he was struggling to pick up his drink. Cheese and crackers, he had fallen in love.

The two finished their soups and sandwiches and finally made their way back to the studio, with Walter suddenly stopping their conversation on how Scooter used to hold ‘fashion shows’ for his family where he would wrap curtains around himself as a child and strut up and down their driveway. “Hey, Scooter, you’re going to the game night, aren’t you?”

Scooter blinked at him slowly in thought. Normally, he wouldn’t go to all the company outings or meetings outside of work, with how he usually clammed up and made himself feel singled out. Sure, sometimes he would pop up at Rowlf’s after work, but other than that, he rarely spent extra time with his theater family anymore unless it was required. But, the idea of Walter, who was equally as awkward as Scooter, being the one who felt singled out and left out during the festivities squirmed into his brain like a slug. He couldn’t let that happen.

“Of course, I’ll be there.”

Walter gave him a wide smile as they reached the building, bounding off to their work before Kermit scolded them for being back from lunch so late. Scooter made his way to his desk slowly, his head thudding like a bell tower as he sat down and tried to focus on his work again and not how Walter’s smile made his chest feel like it was going to implode.

When Saturday rolled around and it was time to head out to Kermit’s home for Game Night, Scooter found himself staring in the mirror and mumbling to himself about which of his bowties he should wear. Normally, he would throw on his jacket from earlier and call it a night, but now that he knew Walter was going to be there, he found himself wanting to glamor himself up a bit more. Finally decided on his yellow-polka dot bowtie, Scooter hurried out the door and to Kermit’s mansion, his stomach flipping like hash browns on a griddle.

Just as Scooter was starting to doubt his choice in bowtie, Walter appeared in front of him in Kermit’s living room. “Scooter, you made it! I was getting worried.” He paused and admired the neck accessory. “Hey, that’s a cute bowtie!”

And with that, Walter turned around like he didn’t just stab Scooter in the chest with his invisible heart-shaped light saber.

“Alright everyone! We’ve decided that we’ll play monopoly first!” Kermit announced to the small group, who clambered around the board. A glance around told Scooter that Walter, Kermit, Piggy, Pepé, Rizzo, Gonzo, Camilla, Fozzie, Denise and himself were the ones playing the game, and due to limited pieces, everyone decided to play in a pair. When Pepé playfully elbowed Scooter and shoved him a little closer to Walter, the orange muppet fantasized about boiling the prawn for a short minute.

Soon, the game dissolved into Rizzo and Pepé insisting that their hotels they owned on the board were actually strip malls, Kermit comforting an emotional Fozzie as they started going bankrupt first, Denise and Piggy growing incredibly close to becoming millionaires in monopoly money, and Camilla attempting to stop Gonzo from eating the other players monopoly money to “destroy the competition.” Walter and Scooter struggled to stay afloat until after what felt like several hours Denise and Piggy won the game, with the other players complaining as Kermit and Fozzie whispered about what the group should do next.

Couples Charades was the next decided game, and soon the group all had their first slips of paper to act out. Scooter had ‘zombie’ printed out on his and was about to ask who his partner for the game was going to be when it became apparent that everyone already predetermined their own partners, leaving Walter and Scooter to choose each other once again.

Rizzo and Pepé stood in front of the group first, whispering to each other for a quick minute before Pepé raised all four of his arms up in finger-guns while Rizzo threw his hands in the air and started to shovel his arms into an invisible bag.

“Clint Eastwood!” Gonzo screamed out, and Pepé shook his head. The alien shrugged. “Well I give up.”

“Me in the voting booth!” Piggy said excitedly, making the others in the room laugh.

Kermit snapped his fingers. “Oh, Pepé is a bank robber and Rizzo is a receptionist!”

“Finally!” Pepé threw his arms up and casually wrapped two of them around Rizzo’s shoulders as they sat down.

“Oh, we wanna go next!” Gonzo announced, grabbing Camilla and racing to the front of the room. He whispered to her for a minute before lifting her into the air.

“Are you treating Camilla like she is Simba, from the Lion King?” Denise blurted out, the Gonzo shook his head.

“Damn, that was my guess, too.” Piggy whispered to her girlfriend as Gonzo set Camilla back down and the Gonzo acted as if he was painting Camilla, who pretended to lounge. When no one guess anything, the blue muppet picked up his feathered girlfriend and set her down behind him as the two impersonated rowing a boat.

“Fishermen?” Fozzie asked, and Gonzo nodded ‘no’ again and started to mimic crashing into something and drowning.

“Oh! Titanic! You’re Jack and Rose from Titanic!”

Camilla clucked loudly and Gonzo fist pumped the air. “Was starting to think no one would get it.” The two sat down quickly, with Piggy and Denise strutting to the front of the room next.

With a sigh, Piggy got on the ground on her knees and looked up at Denise, who pretended to feed her something.

Rizzo let out a laugh, “what, is Piggy supposed to be an actual pig?”

Shaking her head, Denise started to pet the top of Piggy’s head while she acted as if she were eating something off the ground.

“Is she supposed to be a cow?” Scooter asked, and the duo in front of the room once again confirmed it was negative.

Denise gave Piggy a pitiful smile and sat on the square of her back while Piggy crawled around with her girlfriend on the square of her back.

“Oh, she’s a horse!” Kermit exclaimed, and the blond pig stood up instantly, knocking Denise to the ground. After helping her up and brushing herself off, Piggy scoffed.

“That was the most embarrassing thing I’ve ever done.” Piggy mumbled as the two women sat down and Kermit and Fozzie stood up, exchanging a worried glance.

After whispering to each other for a short minute, Fozzie put his head in his hands in embarrassment and nodded. Kermit stood closer to the sitting members of the room, pretending to hold something on his shoulder that he pointed towards Fozzie, who laid himself on the ground and started to seductively swing his legs around in a dancing motion.

Almost instantly, Pepé inhaled loudly. “Oh, that’s the Madonna thing—the ‘Like a Virgin’ dance routine, and I’m guessing Kermit is supposed to be the camera guy.”

Sighing, Fozzie pulled himself to his feet while all eyes in the room stared at Pepé for a long moment.

“What? Everyone has seen that video. I’ve seen it quite a few times, but it’s a good song, okay?”

Shaking his head, Gonzo turned to Fozzie and Kermit as they settled back into their seat. “Say, I didn’t know you knew so much of the ‘Like a Virgin’ dance routine, Fozzie.”

The bear rolled his eyes. “Who _doesn’t_ know the ‘Like a Virgin’ dance routine?”

Denise nodded. “He has a point, Gonzo.”

After dwelling for a moment, Kermit motioned to Scooter and Walter. “Alright, it your guys turn!”

Scooter nodded and stood up, holding a hand up for Walter as they made their way to the front of the room to whisper to each other.

“I’ve got zombie, so do you wanna be the zombie or the victim?” The orange muppet whispered to his partner, who nodded in thought.

“Uhm, I’ll be the victim, I guess. Just act like you’re going to bite me and then I’ll pretend to turn into a zombie, as well.”

Taking a deep breath and turning towards their friends, Scooter lifted his arms up and started approaching Walter in a marching stance as Walter cowered.

“Paparazzi!” Piggy hollered, and the group laughed.

“Wait no, Scooter is the IRS and Walter illegally claimed a home office!” Gonzo cheered, and everyone laughed again. Trying to compose himself, Scooter grabbed Walter’s arm and imitated biting it.

“A weird vampire?” Denise nearly whispered her guess, and Scooter shook his head.

After mimicking being bitten, Walter stood up straight and marched with his arms extended forward as well, and Rizzo laughed.

“You’re supposed to be zombies, right?”

“Looked a little erotic to me with all that biting.” Pepé whispered jokingly as the two approached and sat with their friends again, ignoring the scowl Scooter shot him.

After a few more rounds, Kermit found some thriller he had on his shelf and plopped it in the DVD player. Within minutes a few giant containers of popcorn were distributed among the group so every two people could share one, with Scooter of course being paired with Walter once again.

The movie didn’t interest the gopher much, so he focused on his popcorn and glanced around the room, taking notice of how cuddled up every other pair were and swallowing hard. Just as he went to grab another handful of popcorn, he realized his hand wasn’t clutching any fluffy pieces of corn but Walter’s hand.

Holding his breath, he glanced over to Walter who only shyly smiled at him and started to lean on Scooter’s shoulder.

Unable to hold still, Scooter let out a surprised yell, startling every other guest in the room as he threw the popcorn container a few feet into the air. While it didn’t go everywhere, around 1/4th of the popcorn in the bucket rained onto Scooter and Walter.

Instantly the light was flicked back on the movie was momentarily paused.

“I—I’ll go grab a bag to clean this up. I’m so sorry I spilled popcorn in your living room, boss.” Scooter said, standing up and hurrying into the kitchen to breathe.

When footsteps sounded behind him, Scooter half-expected it to be Pepé, there to torment and tease him for the embarrassing show he just put on, but instead Rizzo stood in the doorway with an amused expression.

“What was that all about, Scooter?” Rizzo said, eating a piece of popcorn off the floor. “Pepé mentioned your crush on Walter, does it have to do with that?”

Scooter rolled his eyes as he grabbed some paper towels and turned away from the rat, trying to gauge where the butter was on his face and wipe it off using the fuzzy reflection of himself that showed in Kermit’s metal fridge. “Yeah, it does. We touched hands by accident and then he was acting like he was gonna lean on me and I freaked out.”

“Well, why’d ya freak out? Is it the co-worker thing? Because Kermit and Fozzie are still in there cuddling, so ya won’t get in trouble.”

“You don’t get it. I’m just nervous, Rizzo. I haven’t liked someone this much in a while, and I don’t wanna go too quickly or ruin it.”

“No, no, I get it. I mean, I fell in love with my best friend, and it’s still weird sometimes.” The rat shrugged. “But I mean, you shouldn’t just bottle up your feelings either. You should tell him, I’m sure he’ll understand if ya wanna take it slow.”

Scooter sighed. “Yeah, I know. I’m just not sure if—” before the gopher could protest anymore, Rizzo snorted.

“Uh, ya better think fast, Scooter, he’s heading to the kitchen. Good luck.” The rat turned and made his way back into the living room and Scooter considered yelling and asking him to stay, but the moment he turned around, Walter was already awkwardly standing in the doorway and the rat was nowhere to be seen.

“Hey Scooter,” Walter said in a soft voice, holding a few bundles of popcorn. He tossed them into the trash and stepped closer. “I came to see if you needed any help cleaning up…and if you were okay.”

Swallowing hard and struggling to stop his voice from cracking and sounding like a squirrel going into labor, Scooter approached his co-worker with some of the paper towels, trying to fight the ball of anxiety-yarn that spun around his stomach. “I’m alright, but…hold still.”

Walter tensed up as Scooter leaned forward and wiped a bit of the butter off with a paper towel. “I’m really sorry about throwing popcorn on you.”

With a snort, Walter leaned into the touch slightly. “It’s okay. I shouldn’t have,” he cleared his throat, “tried leaning on you. I just…misread the situation.”

Scooter pulled away in shock, and Walter stared at the ground. “No, you were fine, I just freaked out. I’m not good at the whole romance thing.” The gopher rubbed at the back of his head. “But, I do like you, Walter. A lot.”

The brunette muppet looked up right away, his eyes wide. “Huh? You do?”

“I do! I’m just not good at the whole romance thing. I’m always nervous I’ll mess things up, but I do like you, so if we go back in there, I’d be alright with you leaning on me this time, if you still want—”

Before the gopher could finish his words, Walter leaned forward and kissed him. Scooter closed his eyes and sighed inwardly until Pepé’s voice sounded in the doorway.

“Ooh, I knew something spicy would happen after that heated game of charades.”

Right away, the two broke apart to scold the prawn, who backed out of the room with a laugh. Glancing between each other when he left, Scooter gently reached down and grabbed Walter’s hand and held to it tightly.

“I get nervous too, Scooter. I haven’t really had a lot of serious relationships, and I’m not sure if I know how to have one the right way, but… we can just be together, but awkwardly ourselves still, right?” Walter lamented, and Scooter nodded slowly.

“Yeah, that’d be nice, Walter.”

Walter smiled and the two made their way back into the living room, preceding with the movie until it was time to part, with Walter leaning his head on Scooter’s shoulder comfortably.

When Scooter went home and finally slipped into his own bed, he couldn’t help but dream of how his relationship with Walter could progress and grow throughout the years. Even if it was awkward and slow.


End file.
